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SERMON I.

GENESIS xiv. 20.

And he gave him tithes of all.

ON a former occasion we referred to the faith of Abraham manifested in leaving his father's house at the call of God, not knowing whither he went, but believing he was faithful that promised, and considered him as an example to the children of God, in that wherever he sojourned, he erected an altar, and daily offered up prayers to Jehovah for his guidance and protection.

In his conduct with regard to Lot we were reminded of our duty when those around are induced either from self-interest or unkind feeling to contend with us -to yield rather than strive, and to assist

and benefit to the utmost of our power even those who have been ungrateful and unkind to us. We now proceed to consi

der him in his conduct to Melchizedek the priest of the most High God, when he met him after the victory over the kings who had taken Lot prisoner.*" And Melchizedek, King of Salem, brought forth bread and wine. And he was the priest of the most high God, and he blessed him and said unto him, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thine hand! and he gave him tithes of all.

Although this is the first place in Scripture in which the proportion of the offering to the means of the individual is stated, and the offering of Abram appears perfectly voluntary; yet we may fairly conceive that something of this kind was customary, but that, owing to the conciseness with which the Scripture narrative is related, the institution of it is omitted. Whether this be the case or not, we * Genesis xiv. 18, 19, 20.

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find that Abraham, who is emphatically styled the friend of God, the father of the faithful, who has been held up for imitation in all ages as a pattern for believers, did dedicate the tithe of his acquisition to the glory of his Creator; and Jacob, his grandson, showed that if the tenth was not usually the proportion dedicated to God, the example of his grandfather was not lost upon him, for we read, that when about to go to Padan-aram, after leaving his father's house, he vowed a vow, saying,* "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, so that I come again to my father's house in peace; then shall the Lord be my God, and this stone, which I have set for a pillar, shall be God's house, and of all that thou shalt give me I will surely give the tenth unto thee." And we find, when he returned from Padan-aram, he came to the same place, and there dedicated an altar unto the Lord, and from the

* Genesis xxviii. 20-22.

character of the patriarch we can hardly doubt that he performed the other parts of the vow that he had formerly made, and, as in the case of Abram, Jehovah accepted his offering, and rewarded him for it.* "And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him. And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob-thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And God said unto him, I am God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply; a nation, and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins, and the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac to thee will I give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.”

Thus we see whether Jacob gave the tenth from the custom of those early times, or of his own voluntary offering, the blessing of God accompanied it, and for that which he sowed he reaped a hundred fold. This proportion of the property was enjoined to be offered by the law of Moses.

*Genesis xxxv. 6, 10, 11, 12.

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Thus in the 27th chapter of Leviticus, 30th verse, we read,-"All the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land, or of the fruit of the tree, is the Lord's; it is holy unto the Lord." appears that among the children of Israel there were three kinds of tithes, or threetenths of the produce of the land paid from the people-one part to the Levites, another part for the promotion of the glory of God, and a third tenth for the assistance or relief of the poor. Of the first kind, we read in the 18th chapter of the book of Numbers, 21st and 24th verses," And behold I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance for their service which they serve, even the service of the tabernacle of the congregation. The tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer as an heave offering unto the Lord, I have given to the Levites to inherit." Of the second kind, that intended to promote the glory of God, we read in the 14th chapter of Deuteronomy, 22, 23, -"Thou shalt truly tithe all the increase of thy seed, that

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